In fact, researchers found the flatworm in a number of other previously unknown areas, such as New Caledonia (mainland and Loyalty Islands), Tahiti (French Polynesia), Wallis and Futuna, Singapore, and the Solomon Islands. The blue represents previous records while the red represents new records reported in recent study published in PeerJ. The distribution of the invasive New Guinea flatworm. “If you put one Platydemus manokwari in a pot, you can transport the worm to the other side of the planet … it will arrive in perfect health.” This also allows it to travel around the world in agricultural products or in potted plants. But Justine worries that the New Guinea flatworm can subsist for weeks without eating, giving prey a chance to recover slightly before finishing them off again. In the prey-predator curve, when predators consume all the prey in their immediate areas, they will often die out themselves for lack of additional food. and even down into Mexico and the rest of the Americas.Īnd that isn’t all. The worm’s life cycle will continue unless the temperature drops to 50F, meaning it could spread through the southern U.S. It’s sad news for biodiversity,” Justine said, adding that it’s significant that the worm has been discovered on the mainland. “This time there is no joke at all probably because Americans do not eat escargot. But the new discovery was made in several gardens in Miami. In the case of France, the worm was discovered only in a greenhouse, which was quickly closed and the risk was contained. Newspapers made light of the threat it may cause for escargot - a French appetizer made of the mollusk. The invasive worm, originally from the island of its namesake in the South Pacific, first made headlines last year when it was discovered in Caen, France. The worm feasts on land snails and other invertebrates mostly on the ground, though Justine said it can follow the mucus trails snails leave behind them for up to a meter high in trees. The New Guinea flatworm ( Platydemus manokwari) is around 50 millimeters long and 5 millimeters wide and is colored black with a clear central stripe. The white pharynx protruding from the underside of this flatworm is ingesting the soft tissues of a Mediterranean snail (Eobania vermiculite). A New Guinea flatworm collected in a greenhouse at Caen, France.
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